Asking prices rocket as housing boom gathers pace

House sellers' asking prices have surged at their fastest annual rate since 2007 amid signs that the market recovery will push into next year, a major property website has reported.

Rightmove said sellers have been asking 4 pecent more in November typically for their property than they were a year ago, marking the biggest annual rise it has seen in six years.

On a month-on-month basis, prices edged down by 2.4 percent to reach £246,237 on average, marking only the third time in 2013 that there has been a monthly dip.

The average asking price for a property in London is still more than three times that in the East Midlands. Prices in London have risen by 6.9 percent year-on-year, to reach £517,276 on average.

Asking prices usually fall by around 3 percent in the month of November amid the pre-Christmas slowdown, so the slower 2.4 percent decline seen this month suggests that the recent upturn in housing market activity has cushioned the seasonal drop, Rightmove said.

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: "Estate agents expect a more buoyant 2014 as they pick up early signs of an increase in buyer interest and demand, so this side of Christmas could be the time for eager buyers to hunt out keen sellers and do a deal."

Sellers' prices have increased year-on-year across every region in England and Wales apart from the North, the housing market report showed.

On a month-on-month basis, prices dropped in all regions. Prices in Wales dropped by the smallest percentage, edging down by 0.4 percent to reach £165,110 typically. Prices in London saw the biggest monthly drop, at 5 percent.

Rightmove said that in further signs of growing demand from would-be buyers, traffic to its website has recently seen a 30 percent increase on a year ago.

The stock of unsold homes has fallen from an average of 71 per estate agency branch one year ago to 67.

Mortgage applications worth £365 million have been received in the first month since the Government's new Help to Buy scheme to help aspiring home buyers was launched.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), NatWest, Halifax and Bank of Scotland started offering mortgages under the scheme last month and lenders representing most of the mortgage market have confirmed they will eventually come on board.

The initiative makes it easier for lenders to offer mortgages to deposits as low as 5 percent by removing some of the risk they would face if the borrower defaults as the products are backed by the state.

Rightmove said there are signs that the level of choice of homes is holding up relatively well for first-time buyers as the number of flats and terraced homes on the market has declined more slowly this month than the number of detached and semi-detached properties.